Christine Bodwitch teaches a creative movement class. Bodwitch is part of a home-schooling co-op that meets every Friday at a rented space at a church in Dunellen, N.J.

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That was before the New Jersey resident decided to home-school her own daughter, Anya.

Kirchner favors jeans, and like the two dozen other families that are part of the year-old Homeschool Village Co-op in central New Jersey, she doesn't consider herself to be particularly religious. "I was definitely not ready to hand over to anybody my 5-year-old, my baby," she says. "I would hate to miss this. They grow too quickly."

The New Jersey co-op is among hundreds of secular and inclusive home-schooling groups in the USA aimed at providing opportunities for parents to network and for children to socialize, conduct science experiments, play sports and games and more, according to Homeschool World, the website of Practical Homeschooling Magazine.

Secular organizations across the country report their numbers are growing. Though government records indicate religion is still the driving force in home schooling, members of these organizations say the face of home schooling is changing, not because of faith, but because of what parents see as shortcomings in public and private schools.

Joyce Burges, who co-founded National Black Home Educators (NBHE) with her husband, Eric, says most of the parents she deals with have practical, not religious, reasons for home schooling. NBHE's network of families has seen a jump from about 500 home-schoolers a decade ago to about 2,500 today, she says.

She says her area near Baton Rouge has some of the lowest-scoring schools in the nation. "A lot of the children are just falling through the cracks," Burges says. Her five children, ages 16 to 35, were home-schooled, says Burges, a Democrat running for City Council in Baker City, La. "Parents are struggling, trying to see what they can do."

According to a home-schooling survey in 2007 by the federal government's National Center For Education Statistics — the most recent data available — a little more than 1.5 million children in the USA were being home-schooled. That represents an increase from 1.1 million students being home-schooled in spring 2003, according to the center.

The percentage of the school-age population home-schooled increased in that period from 2.2% to 2.9%. The center will release new home-schooling statistics this fall.

The 2007 survey showed 83.3% of home-schooling parents named "a desire to provide religious or moral instruction" as an important reason to home-school.

Susan Beatty, co-founder and general manager of the Christian Home Educators Association of California, who home-schooled three now-grown children, says most of her group's members are looking to offer "a distinctly Christian education."

Amy Wilson, 42, on the board of the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers, says the government statistics don't paint a complete picture.

Wilson is an atheist and former senior research analyst for a nonprofit group. She home-schools her 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter in a state where home-school numbers are up from about 18,800 a decade ago to about 32,000 last year, according to the Virginia Department of Education.

"There are a lot of folks who choose home schooling, in part at least, because they're concerned about transmitting their values," Wilson said. "If someone answers (a survey question about morals) in the affirmative, it doesn't mean they fit the stereotype of the evangelical Christian home-schooler."

Christopher Lubienski, professor of education policy at the University of Illinois, says that though some home-schooled students become high achievers, they may have done as well in a normal school setting. "There's really not good evidence that it's a better model for children," he says. He says some parents "just aren't qualified to provide the education for their children."

Norma Curry, 67, of Cincinnati says membership in the group she helped found, Cincinnati Area Teaching Children at Home, doubled from about 500 families five years ago to 1,000 today. Curry home-schooled her now-24-year-old daughter, a gainfully employed college grad.

"This is southwestern Ohio, home of (Republican House Speaker) John Boehner — it is an extremely conservative place, which is why we started this organization," says Curry, who has a master's in philosophy and works as a substitute teacher.

Studies that indicate home-schooled students perform better academically also are growing home-schoolers' numbers, she says.

A Home School Legal Defense Association study in 2009 by the National Home Education Research Institute showed home-schoolers, on average, scored 37 percentile points above public school students on standardized achievement tests.

"Parents are disgusted with the school system," Curry says. "The majority, they're just looking for something better."

Williams Boyd also reports for The Press in Asbury Park, N.J. Bichao also reports for the Home News Tribune in East Brunswick, N.J. Contributing: William M. Welch in Los Angeles.

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